New Yorkers Most Afraid of Rats; Lower East Side Is the Second “Rattiest” ‘Hood

October 21, 2010

A new survey conducted by a leading pest control manufacturer says rats are still New Yorkers’ least favorite pest. So how do jaded New Yorkers react when these dreaded home invaders are on the prowl? And which Manhattan neighborhoods are considered the “rattiest?” Let’s find out!

The survey, sponsored by d-Con, a mouse trap and bait manufacturer that bills itself as “America’s #1 Mouse Killer,” surveyed residents in New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Chicago to see which pests bother which cities.

New Yorkers, it turns out, are most afraid of rats (28%), followed by roaches (23%), snakes (13%), termites (9%), mice (9%), spiders (6%), and ants (1%). Bedbugs were apparently not an option, and it’s unclear what kind of New Yorker is more afraid about finding a snake in their bed than a mouse in their kitchen, but sure. Rats and roaches are still gross.

New Yorkers also said the first thing they’d do upon seeing a mouse would be to scream (25%), followed by trying to chase or catch it (21%), setting mouse traps (15%), simply running out of the room (13%), calling their spouse or partner (9%), jumping on a chair (6%), “siccing” their cat or dog on it (5%), calling an exterminator (4%), or “other” (4%).

d-Con didn’t poll the cats or dogs to see how they’d react, but New Yorkers are apparently pussies because only 20, 24, and 18 percent of residents in Boston, Atlanta, and Chicago said they’d scream first, respectively. (People in all three of the other cities were more likely to first chase or try to catch the little vermin.)

The study also ranked the “rattiest” New York neighborhoods. Harlem took 24% of the vote, followed by the Lower East Side (18%), Morningside Heights (10%), Hell’s Kitchen (9%), the Upper East Side (8%), Lower Manhattan (7%), the East Village (5%), Chelsea and the Upper West Side (4%), Tribeca, Soho, and Murray Hill (3%), Gramercy (2%), and the West Village (1%). Six percent said “Other,” which must mean Roosevelt Island, and 100% clearly didn’t know what they were talking about if the East Village only ranked seventh as the borough’s “rattiest” ‘hood.